Panthers veterans struggle with lost year
A number of veteran Carolina Panthers are forced to contemplate their futures after the promise of a 15-1 season and a trip to the Super Bowl wilted into this year's 4-8 campaign.
While the Panthers are still mathematically in contention for the postseason and can even finish the year at .500, vested veterans such as backup quarterback Derek Anderson don't know how many more years they'll have to chase that elusive championship.
"Knowing (the playoffs are) fairly out of reach, that you've got to have some magic to happen for us to get in, it's frustrating," the veteran of 12 seasons said to David Newton of ESPN. "For me, some of the older guys, who knows. Is this the last four games? Do we have another year?"
Linebacker Thomas Davis fought to rebound from a broken forearm in order to play in last year's Super Bowl. After playing for 12 seasons, he knows how fleeting those chances at glory are.
"You definitely never know when that opportunity is going to come again, if it's going to come again," Davis said. "As a group, we're going to work as hard as we can to make sure we're back to the point where we were as a football team."
The Panthers will try to crawl their way to 8-8, beginning with Sunday's matchup with the San Diego Chargers.